Thermal (Overload) Motor Relay Protection

30/04/2018 Thermal (Overload) Motor Relay Protection
Electric Motor / Industrial Automation / Protection
Thermal (Overload) Motor Relay

Protection
Winding failures in motor
The majority of winding failures in motor are either indirectly or directly
caused by overloading (either prolonged or cyclic), operation on
unbalanced supply voltage, or single phasing, which all lead through
excessive heating to the deterioration of the winding insulation until an
electrical fault occurs.
http://electrical-engineering-portal.com/thermal-overload-motor-relay-protection 1/8
Thermal (Overload) Motor Relay Protection (on photo: RTX relay with MNX contactor; credit:
larsentoubro.com)
The generally accepted rule is that insulation life is halved for each 10° C
rise in temperature above the rated value, modified by the length of time
spent at the higher temperature. As an electrical machine has a relatively
large heat storage capacity, it follows that infrequent overloads of short
duration may not adversely affect the machine.
However, sustained overloads of only a few percent may result in

premature ageing and insulation failure. Furthermore, the thermal
withstand capability of the motor is affected by heating in the winding
prior to a fault.
It is therefore important that the relay characteristic takes account of the

extremes of zero and full-load pre-fault current known respectively as the
‘Cold‘ and ‘Hot‘ conditions.
The variety of motor designs, diverse applications, variety of

possible abnormal operating conditions and resulting modes of
failure result in a complex thermal relationship.
A generic mathematical model that is accurate is therefore impossible to

create. However, it is possible to develop an approximate model if it is
assumed that the motor is a homogeneous body, creating and dissipating
heat at a rate proportional to temperature rise.
This is the principle behind the ‘thermal replica’ model of a motor used
for overload protection.
The temperature T at any instant is given by:
where:
Tmax = final steady state temperature
τ = heating time constant
Temperature rise is proportional to the current squared:
where:
IR = current which, if flowing continuously, produces temperature Tmax in
the motor
Therefore, it can be shown that, for any overload current I, the

permissible time t for this current to flow is:
In general, the supply to which a motor is connected may contain

both positive and negative sequence components, and both
components of current give rise to heating in the motor.
Therefore, the thermal replica should take into account both of these
components, a typical equation for the equivalent current being:
where:
I1 = positive sequence current
I2 = negative sequence current
and
at rated speed. A typical value of K is 3.
Finally, the thermal replica model needs to take into account the fact that
the motor will tend to cool down during periods of light load, and the initial
state of the motor. The motor will have a cooling time constant τr, that
defines the rate of cooling.
Hence, the final thermal model can be expressed as followin Equation 1:
where:
τ = heating time constant

k = Ieq / Ith
A2 = initial state of motor (cold or hot)
Ith =thermal setting current
Equation 1 takes into account the ‘cold’ and ‘hot’ characteristics defined
in IEC 60255, part 8.
Some relays may use a dual slope characteristic for the heating time
constant, and hence two values of the heating time constant are required.
Switching between the two values takes place at a pre-defined
motor current. This may be used to obtain better tripping performance
during starting on motors that use a star-delta starter. During starting, the
motor windings carry full line current, while in the ‘run’ condition, they
carry only 57% of the current seen by the relay.
Similarly, when the motor is disconnected from the supply, the heating
time constant τ is set equal to the cooling time constant τr.
Since the relay should ideally be matched to the protected motor and be
capable of close sustained overload protection, a wide range of relay
adjustment is desirable together with good accuracy and low
thermal overshoot.
Typical relay setting curves are shown in Figure 1.
Figure 1: Thermal overload characteristic curves; Cold curves. Initial thermal state 0%
Resource: Network, Protection & Automation Guide – Areva
About Author
Edvard Csanyi
Electrical engineer, programmer and founder of EEP. Highly specialized
for design of LV/MV switchgears and LV high power busbar trunking
(<6300A) in power substations, commercial buildings and industry
fascilities. Professional in AutoCAD programming. Present on Google+

Thermal (Overload) Motor Relay Protection

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30/04/2018 Thermal (Overload) Motor Relay Protection

Electric Motor / Industrial Automation / Protection

Thermal (Overload) Motor Relay

However, sustained overloads of only a few percent may result in

It is therefore important that the relay characteristic takes account of the

The variety of motor designs, diverse applications, variety of

A generic mathematical model that is accurate is therefore impossible to

The temperature T at any instant is given by:

Temperature rise is proportional to the current squared:

Therefore, it can be shown that, for any overload current I, the

In general, the supply to which a motor is connected may contain

at rated speed. A typical value of K is 3.

Hence, the final thermal model can be expressed as followin Equation 1:

τ = heating time constant

Typical relay setting curves are shown in Figure 1.

Resource: Network, Protection & Automation Guide – Areva

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